#Date and Time Functions

XPath has first-class date and time types — unlike JSON where dates are just strings. This means you can compare dates, extract components, add durations, and format for display without parsing strings yourself.

If you've struggled with DateTime.Parse() and format strings in C#, XPath's approach will feel more structured.

#Contents

• Current Date and Time

• Component Extraction

• Timezone Operations

• Construction

• Formatting

#Current Date and Time

#current-date()

Returns today's date.

Signature: current-date() as xs:date

current-date()   => 2026-03-19

C# equivalent: DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd")

Note: The returned date includes timezone information from the evaluation context. Within a single XPath evaluation, current-date() always returns the same value — it's captured once at the start, not each time the function is called.

#current-time()

Returns the current time.

Signature: current-time() as xs:time

current-time()   => 14:30:00-05:00

C# equivalent: DateTimeOffset.Now.ToString("HH:mm:sszzz")

#current-dateTime()

Returns the current date and time.

Signature: current-dateTime() as xs:dateTime

current-dateTime()   => 2026-03-19T14:30:00-05:00

C# equivalent: DateTimeOffset.Now.ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:sszzz")

Important: Like current-date(), this value is stable within a single evaluation. If your XSLT processes 1000 documents, they all see the same timestamp.

#Component Extraction

These functions extract parts from date, time, and dateTime values. Each has variants for date, time, and dateTime inputs.

#year-from-date() / year-from-dateTime()

Signature: year-from-date($value as xs:date?) as xs:integer?

year-from-date(xs:date("2026-03-19"))         => 2026
year-from-dateTime(current-dateTime())        => 2026

C# equivalent: date.Year

#month-from-date() / month-from-dateTime()

Signature: month-from-date($value as xs:date?) as xs:integer?

month-from-date(xs:date("2026-03-19"))        => 3

C# equivalent: date.Month

#day-from-date() / day-from-dateTime()

Signature: day-from-date($value as xs:date?) as xs:integer?

day-from-date(xs:date("2026-03-19"))          => 19

C# equivalent: date.Day

#hours-from-time() / hours-from-dateTime()

Signature: hours-from-time($value as xs:time?) as xs:integer?

hours-from-time(xs:time("14:30:00"))          => 14

C# equivalent: time.Hour

#minutes-from-time() / minutes-from-dateTime()

minutes-from-time(xs:time("14:30:00"))        => 30

#seconds-from-time() / seconds-from-dateTime()

seconds-from-time(xs:time("14:30:45.5"))      => 45.5

Note: Returns a xs:decimal, not an integer — it includes fractional seconds.

#Duration Component Extraction

For xs:duration, xs:yearMonthDuration, and xs:dayTimeDuration:

years-from-duration(xs:yearMonthDuration("P2Y3M"))   => 2
months-from-duration(xs:yearMonthDuration("P2Y3M"))  => 3
days-from-duration(xs:dayTimeDuration("P5DT3H"))     => 5
hours-from-duration(xs:dayTimeDuration("P5DT3H"))    => 3

C# equivalent: timeSpan.Days, timeSpan.Hours, etc.

#Timezone Operations

#timezone-from-date() / timezone-from-dateTime() / timezone-from-time()

Extracts the timezone as a dayTimeDuration.

timezone-from-date(xs:date("2026-03-19-05:00"))   => -PT5H
timezone-from-dateTime(current-dateTime())          => timezone of eval context

C# equivalent: dateTimeOffset.Offset

#adjust-dateTime-to-timezone()

Adjusts a dateTime to a different timezone.

Signature: adjust-dateTime-to-timezone($value as xs:dateTime?, $timezone as xs:dayTimeDuration?) as xs:dateTime?

(: Convert from UTC to US Eastern :)
adjust-dateTime-to-timezone(
  xs:dateTime("2026-03-19T14:00:00Z"),
  xs:dayTimeDuration("-PT5H")
)
=> 2026-03-19T09:00:00-05:00
(: Strip timezone — make it "local" :)
adjust-dateTime-to-timezone(
  xs:dateTime("2026-03-19T14:00:00Z"),
  ()
)
=> 2026-03-19T14:00:00

C# equivalent: dateTimeOffset.ToOffset(new TimeSpan(-5, 0, 0))

Variants: adjust-date-to-timezone(), adjust-time-to-timezone()

#Construction

#dateTime()

Constructs a xs:dateTime from separate date and time values.

Signature: dateTime($date as xs:date?, $time as xs:time?) as xs:dateTime?

dateTime(xs:date("2026-03-19"), xs:time("14:30:00"))
=> 2026-03-19T14:30:00

C# equivalent: new DateTime(date.Year, date.Month, date.Day, time.Hour, time.Minute, time.Second)

#Formatting

#format-date()

Formats a date as a human-readable string using a picture string.

Signature: format-date($value as xs:date?, $picture as xs:string, $language as xs:string?, $calendar as xs:string?, $place as xs:string?) as xs:string?

format-date(current-date(), "[MNn] [D], [Y]")
=> "March 19, 2026"
format-date(current-date(), "[D01]/[M01]/[Y]")
=> "19/03/2026"
format-date(current-date(), "[FNn], [MNn] [D]")
=> "Thursday, March 19"
format-date(current-date(), "[Y]-[M01]-[D01]")
=> "2026-03-19"

Picture string components:

C# equivalent: date.ToString("MMMM d, yyyy") — but XPath's picture strings use a different syntax from .NET format strings.

#format-dateTime()

Formats a dateTime value.

Signature: format-dateTime($value as xs:dateTime?, $picture as xs:string, ...) as xs:string?

format-dateTime(current-dateTime(), "[MNn] [D], [Y] at [h]:[m01] [PN]")
=> "March 19, 2026 at 2:30 PM"
format-dateTime(current-dateTime(), "[Y]-[M01]-[D01]T[H01]:[m01]:[s01]")
=> "2026-03-19T14:30:00"

Additional components:

#format-time()

Formats a time value.

format-time(xs:time("14:30:00"), "[h]:[m01] [PN]")
=> "2:30 PM"
format-time(xs:time("09:05:30"), "[H01]:[m01]:[s01]")
=> "09:05:30"